Toy railroad car truck



Oct. 17, 1950 J, BQNANNQ 2,526,452

TOY RAILROAD CAR TRUCK Filed Sept. 27, 1946 1 a I i a M/ I f, 2/; A 2 1; E;

4d E ie-37 J INVENTOR v BY ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 17, 1950 2,526,452 TOY RA'ILROADLCAVR TRUCK Joseph L. Bonanno, Madison, N. J., assignor to The Lionel Corporation, New York,- N. -Y., a corporation of New York' v;

Application September 2:, i946, Serial No. 699,808

The present invention relatesto toy railroad car trucks and method of making the samefand 'is more particularly directed towardimp rov ements in toy railroad trucks according to which the car wheels and axles are held in place between two side plates which are secured to a bridging member in the form of a stamping.

According to the present invention the stamping employed to hold the side plates together is shaped to have sufficient rigidity to resist bending under forces substantially in excess of anything which should be expected in toy railroad operation and the stamping is so shaped as to facilitate ready manufacturing assembly of the side plates and stamping.

Other and further objects will pear as the description proceeds.

The accompanying drawings show, for purposes of illustrating the present invention, an embodiment in which the invention may take form, it being understood that the drawings are illustrative of the invention rather than limiting the same.

In these drawings:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a toy railroad truck with parts broken away and parts in section;

Figure 2 is a sectional view through the truck on the line 2-2 of Figure 1 illustrating the mode of assembly employed;

Figure 3 is a sectional view on the line 3-3 of Figure 1 illustrating the stamped frame member, and

Figure 4 is a view taken in the arrow 4 of Figure 1.

The truck employs two axles Ill-I81 shouldered as indicated at H and the reduced ends H of the axles carry wheels l2 which revolve freely on the axles. The body member of the truck is in the form of a stamping made of heavy gauge stiff sheet steel. The stamping has a central flat circular portion 2| provided with a central hole 22 to receive a mounting stud not shown. On diametrically opposite sides of the fiat central portion the stamping is provided with downwardly outwardly sloping elements 23-23 of conical configuration. These are connected to the flat central portion of the stamping by flanges 24 also of conical configuration so that the downwardly and outwardly extending elements are very rigidly connected with the central portion. These flanges are preferably cut away as indicated at 25 to accommodate coupler mechanism and a. lug 26 preferably extends put away from the central portion 2|.

hereinafter apthe direction of 5Claims. (01. 46-221).

When the truck is assembled with downwardly extending stops indicated in on a car provided Figure 1 at26'-2 6, swinging of the truck may be limited by engagement of these stops with the projection 26 carried by the stamping 20.

At the bottom of the downwardly and outwardly sloping portions 23 the stamping is formed to have vertical portions 21-21; The stamping is then bent outwardly to have horizontal flat portions 28-28. The portions 21 of the stamping are directly opposite the ends of the horizontal portions 28. Alongside these flat portions the stamping is bent upwardly as indicated at 29. The outer ends of the side flanges 29 are in line with shoulders 30 on the horizontal portion 28. The outer ends of the horizontal portions 28 have bendable tips 3l-3l as indicated.

The side plates -49 have elongated slots Al adapted to fit over the reduced end portions of the stamping as indicated in the drawings and have bearing openings 43 to receive the axle ends In assembling the truck the body member may be placed in a fixture, not shown, and an arbor such as indicated at 5B, which fits between the vertical portions 21 of the stamping is brought into place. The wheels, axles and side plates are assembled in position in the fixture and this leaves the ends 3| of the frame member projecting beyond the sides of the plates 40. The press is then closed and staking tools 5| brought against the projections 3| to bend them against the side plates.

It will be noted that in these operations there is no tendency to bend the stamping out of shape and that accurate alignment of all the parts is assured. It will also be noted that when the side plates are assembled as described, the inner faces of the side plates engage the outer ends of the stiffening flanges 29 so that the truck is rigidly braced against spreading.

Trucks such as herein shown will generally be used with current collectors, couplers and the like, as more fully illustrated in the application of Frank Pettit, Serial No. 710,355, filed November 6, 1946, and filed concurrently herewith.

Since it is obvious that the invention may be embodied in other forms and constructions within the scope of the claims, I wish it to be understood that the particular form shown is but one of these forms, and various modifications and changes being possible, I do not otherwise limit mysel n y W wit re ect thereto.

What is claimed is:

1. A toy railroad truck comprising two side plates carrying wheels and axles and a sheet metal frame having ends passing through holes in the side plates and staked against the outer surface of the plates, the sides of the frame having upturned flanges engaging the side Walls of the side plates to hold them in alignment.

2. A toy railroad truck having two side plates carrying wheels and axles, and a sheet metal frame having horizontal outer portions with reduced ends extending through the side plates and upset onto the plates, said outer portions being channel shaped with the outer ends of each channel engaging the side plates, the frame having vertical risers spaced from the side plates, upwardly and inwardly sloping portions extending from the vertical risers and a flat circular top portion connecting the sloping portions.

3. A toy railroad truck as claimed in claim 2 wherein the sloping portions and top portion are interconnected by stiffening flanges.

4. A toy railroad truck having apertured side plates, and a sheet metal bridging member having reduced ends extending through the side plates and upset onto the outer surfaces thereof, the bridging member having vertical walls spaced from the side plates to provide abutment faces for engagement against a tool to take the thrust when the adjacent reduced end of the bridging member is upset.

5. A sheet metal frame piece for a toy railroad car truck, having an upper horizontal circular element, diametrically opposite downwardly and outwardly extending elements of conical contour extending from the circular element, flat horizontal outwardly extending elements connected to the elements of conical contour and having narrowed ends, and upwardly extending abutment forming elements at the sides of the horizontal elements.

JOSEPH L. BONANNO.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,248,619 Chein 1 Dec. 4, 1917 1,542,139 Ives June 16, 1925 1,749,384 Koerber Mar. 4, 1930 2,062,965 Boyd Dec. 1, 1936 2,177,191 Sandberg Oct. 24, 1939 2,264,897 Becker et a1. Dec. 2, 194 

